Richard Liu, the billionaire founder of one of China's largest e-commerce platform, was released from jail on Sept. 1 without bail after being arrested on Aug. 31, according to the Minnesota police records. JD.com had since released an official statement through China's Weibo saying that its chief executive officer was falsely accused of sexual misconduct.
In its statement, JD.com explained that the arrest was made during Liu's business trip to the United States. The CEO, whose Chinese name is Liu Qiangdong, was questioned by Minnesota police on unfounded accusation and was immediately released later in the day, the statement clarified. The billionaire was allowed to proceed with his business trip as what was originally intended.
JD.com, which was founded in 2004, is a major player in Beijing's technology industry, specifically in the e-commerce platform. The company is a significant competitor of Jack Ma's Alibaba though most of its products are electronics ranging from smartphones and home appliances. JD.com's platform is also similar to Amazon.
Both of them are vying for the attention of the most affluent Chinese consumers. JD.com claims that it currently has more than 300 million online buyers while Alibaba says it has more than 570 million customers in China alone. JD.com's largest biggest shareholder is Tencent which also operates WeChat.
Liu's arrest in Minnesota came after a few months from when Google bought a stake in the company for $550 million. JD.com will also work with Walmart to expand its China operations. In August, Walmart led a $500 million fundraising for JD.com's affiliate Dada-Jd Daojia according to Bloomberg.
The alleged sexual misconduct case also happened while the billionaire is planning to gather customers outside of China. It has plans to expand in the United States, Europe, and then Southeast Asia.
The New York Times reported that Minneapolis police, which took Liu into custody, is still treating his case as an active investigation. The case will continue once the police received the formal complaint from the victim, a spokesman for the Minneapolis Police Department told The New York Times.
Interestingly, Liu's arrest in the United States took place months after his association with a separate sexual misconduct in Australia. This sexual misconduct reportedly happened in his penthouse in Australia in 2015. The case involved a penthouse guest identified as Longwei Xu who was later on found guilty on grounds of having sex without consent.
Liu tried to appeal to an Australian court that his name not is released with regard to the case because of the potential damage it can cause his family and his business. The court rejected his appeal.
